I am more than Entertainment
I’ll never forget the feeling—
everywhere I go,
the same questions follow me.
“What sport do you play?”
“How much do you lift?”
Never about grades
Never about my goals
Never about the future I imagined for myself.
I realized young
that my body always entered the room
before my mind did.
My whole life
has been shrunk down
to my athletic ability.
I worked and worked,
studied and studied,
late nights with my textbook open
proving to myself
that I am more than what they expect.
But every school,
every person,
saw only one thing.
They expect a cell instead of a classroom,
a record instead of a résumé.
a loser instead of a lawyer
a thug instead of a teacher.
As if my future has been already written
in bars and numbers,
in courts and fields,
not books and ideas.
I am breaking generational curses
with my mind—
choosing thought over a sentence,
vision over survival.
Black people are not entertainment.
We are artists,
educators,
philosophers.
We are more than a sport.
More than something you watch.
We have the ability
to do anything we want—
not what you want.
I am more than entertainment.
I can go to Ivy League schools.
I can be a doctor.
I am more than your narrative,
more than your stereotype.
However, you chose to name it
My blackness is not a limitaiton
my skin is history,
intelligent,
and resilient.
I am Black and I am proud.
I AM BLACK EXCELLENCE
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